Getting in Shape

I believe that everyone has the potential to be a Super Hero, this is say that I believe that everyone has the potential to be exceptional. You need to discover you talent or skill and determine to improve yourself, in some way, everyday. A part of that is getting, or in my case getting back into shape. You don't really need to spend a lot of money to do this either. There are local gyms of course, or the Y. You can spend money for a membership and work out on the regular. For a lot of people this works. Depending on the gym, they not only have all the equipment you need, but you make new friends...which is always a good thing.

If you don't want to drop the cash, then don't. You really don't have to join a gym if you don't want. You can work out in and around your home.

It doesn't cost a thing to walk/run around your neighborhood, or to do push-up, squats, and crunches at home.

But there is a third method, kind of a hybrid of the two. Visit you city or county rec center. They've recently completed a new indoor pool on the grounds of the former outdoor pool, blocks from where I live. It's great! But the thing of it is, I don't have to spend a dime. It's a city pool. Taxes, yes taxes, take care of it. If I have friends from over the state line that want to swim, they pay $3.

Here's a picture of my neighborhood pool. Depending on what time a day or evening you go, the place is almost empty. It's almost like having your own private pool! But wait, there's more. Outside the pool is a small weight room. Nothing fancy, buy you can get the job done. Combining free weights and a pool workout is great. You get in shape fast and it keeps you from getting bored.

If you can't swim, no big deal. Most city/county pools have swim classes. They even have water aerobics. And did I mention our local pool is heated? It's a great deal all the way around, but for free, it's an exceptional deal.

Now, here are a few vids that might help you use a local pool to get yourself into great shape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oQu2teJ3Ow&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvQ5LqJk7pc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVnhkY4Ew30

Okay, now look, I did not pick these vids because they featured great looking women, but...

The key thing to remember is getting yourself in shape is all a part of how you are going to approach life. You can get the most out of life, and become the exceptional person you want to be when you have good health. You'll enjoy better health, if you get, and keep, yourself in shape. Getting in shape will also help the way others view you and the way you view yourself.

So whatever way works for you, get out there and get started.

Leadership in a Time of Crisis

I am a news junkie. It pays to be when you live in a town like Washington. If you are reading this post, I wonder have you checked out the morning news, specifically:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/08/national/main4331869.shtml?source=related_story

Again, judging by the polls, it looks like Obama will win. After the election, I hope Bush, McCain, and Obama will all appear on television, in prime time, and address the need for all Americans to come together and work to resolve the issues that plague our nation. Having our national leaders stand together, partisan politics aside, and show real leadership in a time of crisis is crucial. This kind of leadership will do a lot to both quiet the voices of discord, but blunt their resonance.

True, a strong show of national unity won't eliminate the hate, fear, and mistrust that has accumulated through America over generations, and has been exacerbated during this election cycle, but it will go a long way to calm the waters as a new president, who ever he is, and a new congress get their collective feet planted.

TAXES!

Everyone hates taxes, especially higher taxes. But realistically, given the state of our economy, how will we avoid them? We can't continue to live on money borrowed from China.

Winning at All Costs

I have often mused about the concept of winning at all costs. I wonder indeed if you have to win at all costs do you really win.?

I have a tendency to browse all kinds of websites, from the most benign to the most extreme. It amazes me what I have read about Barack Obama. I have read that he is a terrorist, taken as a small child by al-Qaeda, brainwashed and trained to achieve high office, and upon doing so, destroy the US from within.

Pretty dastardly!

I have read that he is a Hitler and that the minute he achieves the presidency, he will kill all white Americans because of his intense hate of white people.

Strange, considering his mom, grandparents, and relatives including Brad Pitt, are white.

I have read that he was brainwashed by the Soviets to do the same thing al-Qaeda brainwashed him to do.

Kind of a two for the price of one.

I also read that he was brainwashed by Israel to usher in the final phase of control of the Zionist Occupational Government, which has already weakened America through the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc.

It amazes me that people out their believe in all this. But knowing that people do believe in each of these fantasies, but given that, Campaign McCain, in an attempt to win the election, has begun to play into some of these bizarre scripts by characterizing Obama, as "dangerous," or calling him a socialist and a communist.

I am an American. I love my country. I agree with the Constitution, in fact I once took an oath to defend and protect it. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe that Senator McCain has this right and that he should exercise it. But for someone like John McCain, knowing the fear and paranoia that some Americans have to stoke the flames of the unreasoned and unreasoning fear that some have to sanction the things his surrogates have said about Obama is beyond believe.

And what has been the result? Ashley Todd, allegedly a paid McCain supporter, (http://boards.historychannel.com/topic/Current-Events/Attack-Hoaxer-Turns/520018838)
filing a false police report about being physically attacked by a black man. Skinheads arrested, planning to kill Obama and other African-Americans, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102702347.html. And now a teen is shot for defacing a McCain lawn sign, http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/28/yard.sign.shooting/index.html.

Senator McCain and Governor Palin, you have got to see that when you say some of the things you you have said in recent days, you are stirring people to acts of criminal violence. Senator McCain, to you credit, at one rally you corrected a woman who accused Obama of being a Muslim, but what about all the other rallies Campaign McCain has held in which people screamed, Kill [Obama]?"

Winning can't be worth the damage that is being caused, i.e., leading people to embrace beliefs that Obama will somehow destroy the United States. Winning has got to be about building America and her citizens up, not tearing us all apart. With our problematic economy, things will be tough enough without the added burden of rebuilding the relationship of the American people.

Pekoe the Dog

Superman has Krypto. Batman has, or at least had Bat-Hound. I have Pekoe the Wonder Dog. He cannot fly and he does not have x-ray vision, but he does have the ability to be able to eat anything at anytime, and a mind numbing poot that will render you senseless.

We ALL Have a Lot of Work to Do

Next week I suspect that Senator Barack Obama will be elected President of the United States. To be sure this will be a historical event in that the Senator has African ancestry...as well as European. For me, the racial aspect is insignificant. I think that what will be truly historical about an Obama presidency will be leadership specifically designed to aid America through the transition from a 20th Century Cold War paradigm into something that will provide our great grandchildren with real freedom, real national and personal independence, and above all, real security. Further, if I am correct, the other, perhaps more important result of an Obama administration will be that each and every American will be called upon to learn about leadership and exhibit it.

Due to the our excesses, both our own and our parents, we as Americans have stumbled our way into a mess of epic proportions. We have used far too much of the world's resources. We have lived far over and above our means. This is not "blame America," this is just fact. An Obama presidency will be a call for us to face reality and fix the problems that face us.

However in order for us to face these problems we must grow above our collective past. One of the problems we must grow above is fear. Fear of other Americans of other races to start. Fear of what the world will be like if we are not the only "SuperPower." Fear of changing our standard of living. Fear of not living in a "Me First" society.

Think about it. Do we really need to have 3 cars in one family? Do we really need a television in every room of the house? Do we really need to buy the amount of clothing we buy? Do we really need to do any of the things we do now, if it will create a negatively impact the lives of Americans yet to be born?

We will all have to ask ourselves what is really important.

I love my country. I believe that our collective future can be bright. But I believe that what Barack Obama and Joe Biden will usher in will be a new "Conservatism," if you will. A Conservatism based on saving. A national security built upon every American constantly learning new things so that we will be the first to come to a global marketplace with new and better goods and services. A national security based on consultation, cooperation, and trade. Does this vision element a need for a strong military defense? Of course not, but think about it. A nation, above all else needs oil to fight. Why not reduce the sources of conflict, thereby reducing the need for conflict, and and as a result save resources natural, capital, and most importantly, human?

I believe this is change. I believe in this kind of change. I believe that Barack Obama will lead us all to be agents of this change. And I can't wait. But we will all have a lot of work to do.